Deck

At last, the blog is getting some attention, I have been otherwise occupied with doing other stuff including, my colouring-in and building a deck.
Now we (I mean the dog) won't bring dirt into the house from 'his' alternative entrance into the house!

Xmas Projects

One of the big projects that we planed for Xmas was to transform the pile of bricks that we purchased at the next door auction last year.

As you can see it's a glamorous job requiring strength, a good eye for a straight line and the ability to be consistent in the building process, none of which for this little task I have.

The end result is a little rustic but I will put that down to the various sized bricks that I had to work with to create the curved wall, now called 'Ilene'
(note) By popular demand I have included the other side of the wall...
The lone brick in the foreground will be a 'tree'.

As Promised

The picture of the new front door, still a bit to do to complete the construction but it works...

Front Door

The work goes on, the front door project is now almost complete, we have fitted the door and now it's in place.
You will have to wait for a picture of the 'masterpiece' as I havn't had time to take a picture, so as soon as it stops raining...

It was a bit of a mission, as the door is 1400 x 2200 and very heavy, with only a tolerance of 2mm all around.

Mrs DIY came up with the cunning plan of how we could move it with small rollers (cutdown steel waterpipe)and a big piece of carpet.

The fitting went well as soon as we got it in position the door dropped ito it's pivot points - perfect, the door doesn't have hinges but pivots on 2 stainless steel bearings, top and bottom, I must say the design works beautifully (mine!).

The next stage is to complete the entry porch, this should be this done this weekend.

Bad Bad Week

Lets start with the tractor mower, the head gasket blew in a cloud of blue smoke and oil, then Mrs DIY's Citroen C4 had punchure, that was bad enough to require a new tyre, (not a stock item) so until they get a replacement we are driving on a 'spare'.
Then the hot water jug turned it's toes up so we are reduced to using a kettle on the cook-top, following on, my computer's hard drive took a dive and had to be replaced with the result all the software needed to be reloaded - cannot find the Microsoft activation key so needed to purchase a new version (bum!*/! and other stuff!).
Then to cap it all off on Saturday had a call from my mother to tell me a very dear friend of the family had died...

The Artist...

I've started painting again, it's all very difficult, the initial efforts looking very beginners guide to colouring in. (1st effort attached)

If you don't know what it is, it's water flowing over some rocks in the river, I like trying to create the illusion of looking into water

Still I must persevere? as this is one of the reasons that we built the gallery (garage), at this point in time I feel that the cars would be better off having somewhere to live!

Mini Then and Mini Now

From Mini to Mini, my car ownership has done a complete circle, and 4 mini's later plus 40 years!
I am now the owner of the latest version of the Mini, it's still a fun car to drive, just a bit bigger, and the driver a little grayer!
The dog (Oscar) has adjusted to the change of now having to get in through the back hatch back.
This transition was the most difficult as the dog felt that it wasn't very dignified to be seen jumping into the boot, like other dogs.

Dont you 'luv' the cardy!

Water Water

The little job of sealing around the the top of the water tank has become very important. It hasn't stopped raining since I connected the water tank to the roof, with the result of now being the owners of 22,500litres of fresh rain water!

It only took 4 days to fill!

The excess is spilling out the gaps around the water entry point, so sealing the pipe at this point has become very important.

The gizmo's that are supposed to collect stray leaves on a leaf slide and eject them from the system before they go into the tank, are so effective that any stray bits of dust makes them redirect the water out the top of the pipe, so I have had to disconnect them.

Even the water couldn't get through the fine mesh that was installed.

A big waste of $$'s, I think I will just put a inspection point at the bottom of the pipe to clear out any junk that gets into the watering system.

The water is only going to be used for our trees and plants so we don't need to be super careful with what goes into the tank.

Storm Water

Spent a happy day connecting the pipes to the water collection system that I have designed. The rainwater is now being collected in a 22,500l tank.

I have fitted a pressure pump so now all we need to do is wait for the rain to fill the tank and then we will be free of water restrictions that we have during the summer.

The only thing left to do is fit an overflow in the event that the watering usage doesn't keep up with the collection (rain!)

This means we will be able to water the garden without having to resort to using the town water system which is now metered.
We are only have a 500 cubic meter allowance for the year, it's quite a lot of water but we have still used our allowance this year, so from now on we will have to pay.

Back to Work

It's now back to work after 5 weeks holiday, Mr and Mrs DIY have spent the last 5 weeks visiting our children and new grandchild on the other side of the world, one in Montpelier S/France and the other in London.

Good holiday, rented houses in France and Wales and used these as bases together with family to explore these bits of Europe.

The weather was good with lots of heat in France, the only problem we had was I had my pocket picked while getting on the train from Montpelier to Paris, leaving me with no cash, credit cards or drivers licence.

Luckily Mrs DIY and family were able to come to the rescue, I have now have a new wallet (empty) waiting for the replacement cards and licence to arrive in the post.

Yesterday I spent the day nailing down the deck which was waiting for my return to finish, I had hoped that some little elves might have been busy but no, it was still in the same condition that I left it.

The dog had been well looked after by one of our friends who had been house sitting our place while we were away, she is currently waiting for her new house to be finished, so it worked well for all.

Once I sort out my photo's I will post some 'happy snaps' on the blog.